Tuesday, November 13, 2012

It's NOT About the Tool.....

We can't help it....
       it's NEW....
               it's FUN...
                     the students are PSYCHED
                                                                 ...Let's Do It!!! 




Then it happens, you pour too much time on the tool...the objective gets a little lost..and you are not sure about the product.








Front loading can not be underestimated in my mind... no matter what you call it:

"Let the Essential Question drive the project"
"Don't loose focus...Stick to the Standard you are addressing"

Take one lesson, or one project...keep it all except, in one step add the blog, the wiki, whatever. Maybe it's the brainstorming session, instead of using class time, ask students to do a quick blog about ideas as homework. then move to the next step as you usually would. Maybe it's the collaborative rubric...this is where I started...usually we do on the SmartBoard, or even the whiteboard, what would the ideal finished product look like? Then move the descriptors into categories (criteria), weight the criteria, polish and print. Perfect job for a wiki!! 

The point being, we are just switching mediums to start. As we do, we see the abilities of the students to collaborate, and the potential of that. BOOM, we are on our way to facilitating, leading students to uncover, discover, and question....and away from being the limiting factor in the front of the room dishing out content.

Assessing...I believe that infusing the technology pieces in, is a great place to get into formative assessment. I like a skills checklist for these sections...I want to know if they were able to get through the process of infusing it which isn't usually a problem for students. I am hoping to develop a rubric, that has a large part that is consistent no matter the assignment because it will assess the 21st Century Learning Objectives. Once we have educated the students fully about what they mean, they can be written in a global format that may require all of us to critically analyze, and apply the content to it???? IDK....that's where I am at right now.


Objectives guide the lesson.
Technology is a tool to bring out student potential.
Formative assessment can be useful for measuring skills application.
Summative assessment focuses on meeting the objectives.


1 comment:

  1. Hi Lori - This is a great post! It's creative and makes the point well; and these are great ideas for introducing and integrating technology that get us there but in a way that focuses on the learning rather than the tools. I like your thoughts on assessment, and the reminder that "objectives guide the lesson." I really enjoyed reading this!

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